Mod hosting site ModDB has succumbed to pressure from outside sources and has removed the Half-Life 2 mod, School Shooter: North American Tour 2012, from its database. In an open letter to its community, ModDB founder Scott "INtense!" Reismanis said that the site pulled the mod down after "getting quite a bit of mainstream press due to the controversial nature of the content." He went on to say that he got a lot of threatening mail from various sources and the authors of that mail believed that ModDB were the mod's creators.

The Half-Life 2 mod was created by mod group Checkerboarded Studios. The group was obviously pushing the enevelope when it came to its mod. "You are free to do whatever you want. As long as it involves shooting people," reads part of the mod's description.

In a response to Kotaku, Jamie "pawnstick" Lombe from Checkerboarded Studios said that ModDB simply removed their modification without informing them. He went on to say that he would have been willing to make changes to the page to point out that ModDB was in no way responsible for the mod:

"ModDB should not have handled it in such a rash way," Lombe said. "I would have been willing to make modifications to the page to state that ModDB is in no way affiliated with the development instead of removing the mod suddenly and not even sending me an email informing that my mod was removed."

Regardless of who hosts it in the future, Lombe promises that the mod will be released and development continues. ModDB did not say that Jack Thompson played any part in the mod's removal, nor did it mention any pressure from Valve Software - for the record.

I understand why ModDB caved, but they should have at least informed the creators. Either way, I am also glad that development will continue and that the developer won't be cowed into silence. While I find the content disturbing, to say the least, they have the right to make such a mod and distribute it.

If you are gonna to produce a controvertial game just for the sake for controversy, please, don´t chicken out on last minute just because some idiots on the press and by e-mail are making empty threats over your mod.

What´s the point then? Now more people will complain every time a new violent game is being developed and they are gonna mention you about how you back off of it.

Thank you so much for the massive load of anti-game ammo you just gave to Jack Thompson´s mentallity club.

I'm so glad we live in a society where one can express oneself without fear of intimidation or threaten- oh. Oh, wait. Nevermind. Whether it's a school shooting mod, or a gay-"curing" app, or whatever, you can either be bullied and intimidated into silence, or at least the places that host your expression can be bullied and intimidated into silencing you.

It was an extreme example (the more common one is whether shouting 'FIRE!' in a crowded cinema constitutes free speech) but the point remains - we don't have absolute and utter freedom to do anything we want, we have laws to encourage and maintain order. It's not taking freedom away if there's a reason behind the law or reasoning of the group doing so. Otherwise, prove me wrong - go ahead and do some dubious act like I mentioned, but to then cry that you're being persecuted is inane in my opinion.

It is taking freedom away, whether there is a valid reason or not. You don't have the freedom to run around and murder people, and that freedom is curtailed for good reason. However, the freedom being restricted here is not for any valid reason. Nobody is harmed or threatened by this mod. Nobody even has to actually see it unless they go out of their way to install and play it. They are simply offended by its mere existence, and they want to make sure nobody is able to see it. Adults ought to have the right to choose for themselves what they want to see, hear, play, etc. The right to be offensive is absolutely more important than the non-existent "right" to not be offended. If you don't believe that, then you don't believe in freedom of expression, because you can't have one without the other.

So yeah, I still say your initial post falls within that definition and I'll add the addition you wrote in your second paragraph to this accusation as well. However, I agree with you that ad hominem attacks should be avoided, so MechaTama31, please be civil.

I feel conflicted in much the same way myself. I feel the mod was designed deliberately to elicit this type of reaction. I'd feel better if the makers were trying to make some legitmate point, but from what I've read in interviews, it seemed like they were just being real-life trolls. And as has been pointed out in the comments, at the end of the day it's ModDB's site, and they put what they want on it at their discretion.

I'd like to know too, though, what the nature of the threats were and who sent them. Was JT one of them? Probably not, but knowing him, he's still going to want to take credit for it, even if he wasn't involved.

While I personally agree that ModDB could have handled this with a little more tact - at the very least as far as discussing the matter with with Checkerboard - Mr. Lombe has no right to say how they "should" have handled it. It's not his site to run.

Anti-Human Rights forces are everywhere and every time someone caves in to these terrorists, whether they be violent or non-violent terrorists, Human Rights suffers.

And, yes, contrary to misinformation by Anti-Human Rights groups and individuals, Freedom of Speech/Expression IS a Human Right, recongized by the Universal Declarartion of Human Rights, Article 19. Said argument does NOT limit protections from government infringment but, rather, states that Freedom of Speech/Expression is the Right of every individual.

I wish I hosted such a site as ModDB. I'd happily allow the game there, regardless of whether the game interested me for my own pleasure or not.

I'm sorry, but I've got to say this. First, total dicks the origins of the complaints may be, but please, let's not throw around the word "terrorist" this easily. And you're right, freedom of speech is a human right. However, it's isn't limiting speech to not allow something on someone else's forum, cowardly as it may have been.

If anything, I hope you can make that site a reality.

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -Albert Einstein

I'm not throwing the word terrorist around lightly. I'm very serious about it. Any individual or organization who poses a threat to Human Rights, in whole or part and whether through violent or non-violent means, should be considered a terrorists. Just because the victims of this terrorist threat aren't ending up in tiny little pieces doesn't mean something vital isn't being taken from them by force, even non-violent force. Military forces are always speaking about fighting to protect one's Freedoms. The same is true when fighting non-violent forces that seek to deprive others of Freedoms. And, therefore, those who threaten those Freedoms should be considered just as much terrorists as those who carry bombs or guns.

And the site may very well have such a Right to decide whether they will or will not carry such material. They have as much Right to receive or not receive certain material as they have the Right to transmit or not transmit that material. HOWEVER, the terrorists who harrassed and even threatened the site owners and, perhaps, even the author WERE violating the Human Rights of others. The terrorists were not merely saying "we don't like this material and we aren't going to play it and we're not going to let our own children play it". They, in fact, were harrassing and threatening the site to deny OTHERS their Right to make their own choice. They set out to deprive OTHERS of their Human Rights. In effect "We don't like it and we don't want YOU to have the Right to decide whether to receive or transmit this material!" There IS a big difference and by working to deprive OTHERS of their Rights, they earned the title of terrorist, non-violent (thus far) they may be. Soldiers with guns, missles, and other tools to "defend our Freedoms" may not be able to protect the Freedoms that these terrorists are seeking to deprive others of, but it doesn't make this fight any less a fight for Freedom and Human Rights.

"ModDB did not say that Jack Thompson played any part in the mod's removal"

Que Jack Thompson running his mouth off for another "victory"....

In all seriousness if ModDB didn't like the ideal of a school shooting mod they should have never hosted in the first place. Now they're open to have other mods remove becase "someone gotta think of the children"

They didn't say it was because they didn't like it. They said it was because uninformed asshats sent threatening messages. Obviously, without seeing said messages, we can't determine how serious those threats may be, but it IS their prerogative.

Way to keep your integrity, ModDB. I guess you're going to cave in every time someone doesn't like one of the mods hosted on the site from now on.

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Living in Canada can be a very good thing, you know. We enjoy the universal healthcare and gun-free environment of an European country while getting all of our games released at the same time as in the US.

Living in Canada is awesome. We enjoy the universal healthcare and gun-free environment of a European country while getting all of our games released at the same time as the US.

Shout box

Infophile: @Matt: Apparently Dan Aykroyd actually is involved. We don't know how yet, though, but he's apparently going to be in the movie in some way.08/02/2015 - 4:17am

Mattsworkname: I still hold that not having the origonal cast invovled in any way hurts this movie, and unless the 4 actresses in the lead roles can some how measure up to the comic timing of the origonal cast, i just don't see it being a success08/02/2015 - 12:46am

Mattsworkname: Mecha: regardless of what you think of it, GB 2 was a finanical success and for it time did well with audiances ,even if it wasnt as popular as the first08/02/2015 - 12:45am

MechaTama31: I think they're better off trying to do something different, than trying to be exactly the same and having every little difference held up as a shortcoming. Uncanny valley.08/01/2015 - 11:57pm

MechaTama31: Having the original cast didn't do much for... that pink-slimed atrocity which we must never speak of.08/01/2015 - 11:56pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: If the new ghostbusters bombs, I cant help but feel it'll be cause it removed the origonal cast and changed the formula to much08/01/2015 - 8:31pm

Andrew Eisen: Not the best look but that appears to be a PKE meter hanging from McCarthy's belt.08/01/2015 - 7:34pm

Mattsworkname: You know what game is a lot of fun? rocket league. It' s a soccer game thats actually fun to play cause your A Freaking CAR!08/01/2015 - 7:02pm

Mattsworkname: Nomad colossus did a little video about it, showing the world and what can be explored in it's current form. It's worth a look, and he uses text for commentary as not to break the immerison08/01/2015 - 5:49pm

Mattsworkname: I feel some more mobility would have made it more interesting and I feel that a larger more diverse landscape with better graphiscs would help, but as a concept, it interests me08/01/2015 - 5:48pm

Andrew Eisen: Huh. I guess I'll have to check out a Let's Play to get a sense of the game.08/01/2015 - 5:47pm

Mattsworkname: It did, I found the idea of exploring a world at it's end, exploring the abandoned city of a disappeared alien race and the planets various knooks and crannies intriqued me.08/01/2015 - 5:46pm

Andrew Eisen: Did it appeal to you? If so, what did you find appealing?08/01/2015 - 5:43pm

Mattsworkname: Its an interesting concept, but it's not gonna appeal to everyone thats for sure,08/01/2015 - 5:40pm

Andrew Eisen: That sounds horrifically boring. Doesn't sound like an interesting use of its time dilation premise either. 08/01/2015 - 5:36pm

Mattsworkname: an observer , seeing this sorta frozen world and being able to explore without any restriction other then time. no enimes, no threats, just the chance to explore08/01/2015 - 5:34pm

Mattsworkname: Andrew: I meant lifeless planet, Time frame is an exploration game. Your dropped onto a world which is gonna be hit by a metor in 10 seconds, but due to time dilation ,you actually have ten minutes, so you can explore the world, in it's last moments, as08/01/2015 - 5:32pm